FINALIST! Behold 11-year-old Cullen, 8-year-old Lilith and 5-year-old Barrett as "Rock, paper and scissors." The kids look appropriately stoked. An excellent costume and a great way to settle childhood disputes.

FINALIST! You can't beat the smile on 9-year-old Will, whose mother Alissa McLean created this homemade Android character. McLean explains: "Three weeks ago, if you had asked me to compare the likelihood of this costume getting successfully made vs. the chances of the Giants coming back from two games down in the NLDS to sweep the Tigers in the World Series, I would have put my money on the Giants. I am possibly the least crafty person on the planet."

FINALIST! Sent to us by Rachel S., who says her 3-year-old and 1-year-old are obsessed with the movie "Up." As much as I like these amazing Russell and Mr. Fredrickson costumes, I love the fact that the kids are holding hands. Cue the Michael Giacchino score ...

FINALIST! Sent to us by Rachel S., who says her 3-year-old and...

FINALIST! Sent to us by Rachel S., who says her 3-year-old and... Photo-3691405.51547 - SFGate

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FINALIST! Jane, who once graced our winner's circle by making her toddler hand-knit nunchuks for a Bruce Lee costume, comes back strong! "Here’s our daughter and her little brother, Gangnam Style. I couldn’t resist given their perfect body types, Korean heritage, and the fact that the looove dancing to the song."

FINALIST! Little Roshan is breaking hearts in this excellent costume. The creator writes: "The whole thing cost about $6 to make, and I used a bunch of stuff from around the house. My Craftsman drill was invaluable. By 6 p.m., it was too cold in Livermore to wear this so I had a warmer version ready for Trick or Treating."

FINALIST! Curious George and The Man With the Yellow Hat Photo-3691363.51547 - SFGate

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FINALIST! A cardboard box ... and you're there! This report from Michael B.: "After explaining Halloween and costumes to three year old Hugo, he decided he wanted to be a subway for Halloween. Not a subway driver, but an actual subway. BART is his current favorite form of transportation. After a few attempts, this is what we came up with."

FINALIST! Excellent work by "Swamp Girl" and a peacock. Sarah Jeske describes the costume making kind of like "Iron Chef." The girls get an Oct. 1 deadline to decide on a costume, and mom has 30 days to execute. "It often involves glue guns, sub par sewing skills, rummaging through my husbands tool boxes, cursing, wine and optional weeping."

FINALIST! Steve and Owen Neal are ready to hit the Catskills. "Watch, my lips won't move," writes Steve. (Or is it Owen?) There was debate in our household whether this was creepy or cool. Why can't it be both?

FINALIST! In a very timely move 3-year-old Ivy went as Super Panda. Mom Kate Schatz reports: "It was a big hit at the Piedmont Ave Costume Parade—everyone was yelling ‘Go Giants!’ and she took a picture w/ a kid dressed as Scutaro."

FINALIST! In a very timely move 3-year-old Ivy went as Super Panda....

FINALIST! In a very timely move 3-year-old Ivy went as Super Panda.... Photo-3691399.51547 - SFGate

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FINALIST! The raven says: "I bought the base of the costumes, but spruced them all up and sewed stuff on, like the collar, the feathers and of course did all the makeup myself. I added the skull clips to the wig and came up with the whole design & costume myself! It was a lot of fun. It is our baby, Dalia’s, first Halloween so I had to go all out!"

FINALIST! This costume is from last year, but it's not like I'm ever going to turn down a sumo baby. Says mother Renee: "I made it out of yarn and fabric when my son Logan was 6 months old and he seemed to pose when wearing it."

FINALIST! This costume is from last year, but it's not like I'm...

FINALIST! This costume is from last year, but it's not like... Photo-3691401.51547 - SFGate

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FINALIST! Stuart appreciated the connection between the virtual building world of Minecraft and this real costume: "Ironically, that which is easy to do on screen is vexing in real life. Throwing together a few boxes to make an 8-bit character turned out to be an 8 hour job."

FINALIST! Mama Fett write in: "When my 8-year old son said he wanted to dress up as everyone’s favorite Mandalorian for Halloween this year, I geeked out a little. Okay, a lot. I give you Boba Fett – I purchased the helmet and the boots, but everything else is either modified or made from scratch (oddly, not my first time making wrist-mounted rocket launchers — that’s just how it is in our family)."

FINALIST! Tori Paulman's daughter Anika is dressed as the browser Firefox -- part of a theme. Tori writes: "Mom #1 dressed as Safari, and Mom #2 dressed as Internet Explorer. This costume is entirely HOMEMADE, and my first attempt at sewing a costume ..."

FINALIST! From Katy M: "After searching in vain for a decent bee costume without stupid glitter wings and ruffles, I borrowed my son’s favorite pajamas paired with Sharpie-colorized Converse and a hand sewn stinger and the Killer Bee was born."

FINALIST! Jenn Purdy's son definitely shows the brains and drive to be the next Tony Stark. Mom writes: "My son Tynan, age 11, made his own Iron Man costume entirely by hand out of duct tape and cardboard. He’s been working on it for the past three months and has at least 80 hours invested."–

FINALIST! WirelessAndy worked hard to deliver his son an excellent Perry the Platapus costume. Andy writes: "Many mistakes were made. For one, the neck opening is way too large, so I found a teal collared shirt to wear underneath. And, as you can see, I can’t sew straight worth a darn (see inset), but I had fun and my son likes it!"

FINALIST! WirelessAndy worked hard to deliver his son an excellent...

FINALIST! WirelessAndy worked hard to deliver his son an excellent... Photo-3691412.51547 - SFGate

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FINALIST! I love how Jacob sells this costume with a huge smile. From parents Josh and Darlene: "We made the train from an old diaper box, cardboard tube, and black paint. We got the hat and patches at a train museum. He’s really looking forward to taking a run on the Candy Express!" (Jacob was a winner in 2010 for his "E.T." costume.)

FINALIST! I love how Jacob sells this costume with a huge smile....

FINALIST! I love how Jacob sells this costume with a huge smile.... Photo-3662893.51547 - SFGate

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FINALIST! Molly Christensen says the whole family -- including 2-year-old Finn and dad Peter -- is going with a "Peter Pan" theme: "Captain Hook’s costume credit goes to his Grandma. The hat and hook were also used by Finn’s dad when he was a kid. Peter Pan’s costume was just an oversized t-shirt and some yarn. No sewing involved!"

FINALIST! Thank you Steven L., for continuing our The Poop tradition of edible infants with this cute spaghetti and meatballs costume. Steven didn't write a long note, mostly because this speaks for itself. Squint to see the meatballs on the baby's head.

FINALIST! Longtime The Poop reader Jody H. returns with fairy and bag-of-pixie dust costumes for her girls Eliza and Gillian. ("If we’re lucky on Halloween night, I might be able to get some glitter on Gillian before she rips off the entire costume.") Bonus points to Jody for re-purposing Eliza's old Bilbo Baggins hat -- she was a 2010 winner -- for Gillian's ensemble.

FINALIST! Kudos to Esme Shaller for recreating the 1960s Russell and Lillian Hoban books about Frances and Gloria the badgers. Four-year-old Keely and 2-year-old June seem to love their costumes. See the backs and source material in the next slide ...

FINALIST! A lot of effort went into these costumes, with the whole family getting involved. From Esme: "We warned them many times that lots of people wouldn’t know who they were, but they didn’t care, they love the books and identify strongly with the characters."

FINALIST! A lot of effort went into these costumes, with the whole...

FINALIST! A lot of effort went into these costumes, with the whole... Photo-3662900.51547 - SFGate

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FINALIST! More than any other theme, I'm amazed how much better the homemade Transformers costumes look than the ones you buy in the store. Vince Vigil built this excellent Cliff Jumper costume for his 9-year-old son Ayden.

FINALIST! More than any other theme, I'm amazed how much better the...

FINALIST! More than any other theme, I'm amazed how much... Photo-3662901.51547 - SFGate

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FINALIST! This excellent Lego Pirate comes from Elizabeth Russell. The more I look at this, the cooler it gets. My favorite details are the block-y Lego feet and the authentic Lego pirate sneer -- which appears to also be the viewing hole.

FINALIST! Magnum, P.I.(P.S.Q.U.E.A.K.) comes from Chris Rooney of Berkeley. From Chris, who hopefully is dressing as either Higgins or a doberman: "Normally, Magnum would be wearing his trademark navy blue Detroit Tigers ball cap, but being MLB playoff season, we went with a more Giants orange-friendly one."

FINALIST! Shannon and Warwick have been following the contest for years, and this monkey costume is an excellent first attempt. Two-year-old Nicholas "doesn’t use many words but is adept at making monkey noises and gets very excited when he sees monkeys or bananas. Hence the monkey costume."

FINALIST! Shannon and Warwick have been following the contest for...

FINALIST! Shannon and Warwick have been following the contest for... Photo-3662904.51547 - SFGate

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FINALIST! Excellent roller derby girl! From mother Justine M. "Daddy is a tattoo artist so he drew the shirt and we thought the tattoo sleeves were amazing. I sewed those down to fit her. We sewed the stripped pieces on to her shorts and made the shirt out of one of her onsies. We added a few stars because all roller derby girls are rock stars!"